DVD review: Beach Boys 1976 NBC-TV special is out

The Beach Boys' magnificent 50th anniversary tour may have wrapped up on a slightly bitter note last year, with Brian Wilson and Mike Love unable to hammer out a way to continue working together, but fans can still tap into plenty of good vibes in 2013. Love and Bruce Johnston are continuing to tour as The Beach Boys (they'll perform a Christmas show Dec. 7 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County); Wilson is working with Jeff Beck and original Beach Boy Al Jardine on his 11th solo CD; and a six-CD Beach Boys box set, featuring more than 60 unreleased tracks, is due Aug. 27.

If you need a fix right now, check out "Good Vibrations Tour," a new DVD (50 minutes; $15) from Eagle Rock Entertainment. It contains the band's 1976 NBC-TV special, which mixed Lorne Michaels-produced skits with concert footage taped at Anaheim Stadium.

The comedy bits — especially the skit where Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi play California Highway Patrol officers who drag Wilson out of bed and force him to go surfing — are cringe-inducing. The concert clips are better, because you see the full band — including the late Carl and Dennis Wilson — in action. Dennis Wilson's rendition of "You Are So Beautiful" is especially heart-tugging.

The best segment was taped inside Compton's Double Rock Baptist Church. The band — including a turban-clad Love — gather around a piano and belt out "That Same Song" with a full gospel choir. Killer stuff.